designed from evidence, designed from the heart.Welcome to Architectonicus’ unique mind in mind approach to designing the dementia care environment

As specialist dementia care architects,we work with your unique model of care and your unique site to solve real problems, for residents, for their families, for staff and for you, the care provider.

Vision summary

Architectonicus are specialist healthcare and dementia architects based in the UK. Established to transform the everyday lives of people living with dementia.

Combined with an effective care plan, beautiful surroundings raise the spirits of everyone. We believe that care environments should be places positively not to be missed. Welcoming, Orientating, Self Affirming, Spiritual, Healing, Provocative, even Risk Taking; a friendly world that acknowledges difficulty and affirms person-hood.

We are committed to helping people with dementia help themselves. Each space, wherever they are, in their bedroom, walking through a building, exploring a garden should feel uniquely belonging to them; 'my home is wonderful'.

We have developed unique design strategies to support the positive psychology of people being cared for and easing the burden on the care team. As specialist architects for dementia care we vastly optimise your ability to increase care quality while achieving long term economies.

However, to reach the build point of a project, even an excellent one, you need to successfully and cost efficiently achieve planning consent.

We have wide experience of the particular difficulties faced by care providers in their search for an affordable, quality site and the hazards they are liable to run into during planning for various location types.

We are achieving planning consent for clients in areas such as farmstead, rural town boundary and Conservation Areas.

To learn more about our specialist strategy and knowledge for working with care clients, we invite you to introduce yourself by phone or e-mail for an informal initial consultation. Working together we achieve a step change in care quality through design that supports your approach to care.

Design is one of the major non pharmeceutical interventions for people with dementia. We can really keep people confident, independent for as long as possible...

Professor Mary Marshall
Dementia Services Development Centre, University of Sterling

Our unique design approach saves you money, saves your carers time and reduces stress, maximises independence and well being for all your residents, creates an attractive environment and community for volunteers.

We believe that when an excellent model of care joins hands with superb mind in mind environmental design, it is possible to transform care and the perceptions of care for all.

We work closely with our clients, listening to you every step of the way.

With wide ranging experience in dementia care design and as healthcare architects:New buildsAlterations & conversionsIntegrating new projects with older buildingsWorking within conservation areas and with listed buildings

We have experience as architects for the following specialist dementia care environments:ResidentialCare farm integrated respiteRespiteDay CareCare Village environments

The deleterious effects on personhood of the standardised care environment, are what I most want to avoid...

...I'm sure I'm not alone in the creeping sense of dread that overwhelms me as the need to find a suitable place becomes more pressing

These are the feelings of a young person living with dementia

entering care is currently "something to be avoided". However we at Architectonicus believe that care can become one of life's un-missable experiences. A time in life when one finds oneself re-empowered as an individual, part of a real non-segregated, living, sharing, active, and cherished community.

We design to express freedomto reinforce sense of self and sense of purpose,

for those being cared for, and for the whole care team.We design to lift the spirit

We bring our specialist architectural expertise and, listening to you, combine it with your knowledge of and unique approach to care. Together we combine our shared passion for transforming the lives of vulnerable people...

...﻿together we can radically transform care and the perceived stigma associated with entering, and working in, the caring environment.

I just wanted to say what a fabulous place it is. I absolutely loved it!! So light and airy (I loved the little windows and sills over the beds and the interesting shape of the bedrooms) and the whole place had a fantastic feeling of spaciousness, using all the views to the absolute maximum. Were my mother still alive, I would definitely have chosen Bradbury Court!... ...The staff working there definitely appreciate it and all the residents seemed very comfortable and at ease.

Other centres are looking at the work done here to help improve their own facilities, which could impact dementia care across the country...

Designing Well means delivering active design that positively empowers everyone within that environment. Our innovatory "mind in mind" design approach works in harmony with your care plan to implement our unique design principles for care environments. We are constantly up-dating and reviewing our attitude to design in response to the very latest research and Thinking Well for dementia.

Below, find an overview of a selectionof our key concepts, with links to the full articles.

Building confidence from the room, the 5 point model.supporting independence from your room toward activity.

From my bed or chair I can...Being actively supported by your environment builds confidence and maximises opportunities. Our 5 point model for optimising independence from the bed or chair uses direct visual and sensory stimulus to draw attention and interest away from the bed or chair and direct it outwards, moving from sensory choice to active engagement with one's surroundings...

To activity and beyond! The 5 point model.supporting activity centred independence.

A caring environment where it's easy to be ourselves...A specialist dementia architects, we go further than person centred design. We create with the minds and day to day experiences of your residents and staff at the forefront of our design process. Through careful attention to the structural layout of the care home in concert with your model of care we deliver for example - Easy sensory based way finding and orientation that gives residents genuine independent choices. We make it simple for staff to work as a team and deliver excellent care, where and when it is needed by direct visual connectivity throughout the entirety of each room cluster...

Mind in Mind. The basis for our unique, advanced innovation strategy.

mind in mind is the heart of our dementia and healthcare design process. We dont stop with just knowing about issues for delivering care, we go as far as possible to understand the lived experience. So when we design, the architecture is a real solution to real problems that are current within care environments.

This process starts with listening to our client, learning about their unique approach to care and their specific needs. Moving out from that standpoint we engage with future users of the environment to be developed and the staff who will work there. We check in on the latest research and thinking relevant to your particular requirements.

Architectonicus, engaging with service users and service providers.Keeping our finger on the pulse of the real experience of care.

We work closely with Young Dementia Herefordshire (an organisation run by and for young people living with dementia). They have visited our office and discussed with us their concerns about existing dementia care environments, while also discussing our plans and innovations with us. We are active leaders of our Local Dementia Action Alliance, and have created a direct action group - Dementia Astronauts. We instigated Herefordshire's first Dementia Symposium. We have an ongoing wellbeing and mental health focused corporate responsibility programme 'Onicus' .

Engaging with research, universities and latest thinking. Keeping at the forefront of practical innovation.

We regularly attend Dementia Congresses, conferences and Public Health England conventions on mental health and well being. We have delivered either live or poster presentations at national dementia congress for each of the last 3 years and have been invited to deliver a poster presentation this year.We attend document launches by both Alzheimers' Society and Universities. As specialist dementia architects we were selected members of the University of Worcester's Association of Dementia Studies 'Expert Working Group'. ADS are also consulting with us on their commitment to the research development of the 'Enhancing Healing Environments' programme which they inherited from the King's Fund.

Our team approach, our experience, our projects.Get a flavor for who we are, and the kind of people keen to work with us on their care projects.

Our team includes over 40 years of multi award winning architectural expertise, with a focus on wellbeing. We have an ex carer for adults with learning and behavioral difficulties on our Directorship, as well as an ex paralympic athlete. Our lead design architect has direct family experience of institutional care. We are highly aware of the shortcomings existing even within modern care environment design, which often focuses on interior design elements rather than on resolving the underlying structural issues that raise day to day problems that must be faced by care staff and residents receiving care. We are currently working on several care projects as dementia architects. They cover a wide range of highly aspirational clients. We are working with each to help them become the most financially viable leader in a step change quality of care for their sector.

Architectonicus >> Dementia Architects >> We travel to you. Working throughout the Midlands, Birmingham, London and from the Welsh West Coast to the English South Coast. We accept projects nationwide.

Dementia Architects, Dementia care home design

Architectonicus,

UK Based, can provide design support across europe

Specialist dementia design & dementia architecture. Architectonicus are architects with a unique approach to care home design. We work with our clients to create day care, respite care, residential care, assisted living, that supports individuals to maximise independence while making care delivery easier for staff. We design to lift the spirit, and support person-hood.